Julia Louis-Dreyfus Was Afraid That Elaine’s Dancing Would Make People Think She’s Bad at Sex
One of Elaine Benes’ defining characteristics, in addition to supreme talent for muffin innovation, is the fact that she’s an absolutely horrendous dancer. In Season Eight’s “The Little Kicks,” George gets an eyeful of Elaine’s jerky moves during an office party, which he later describes as a “full body dry heave set to music.”
While the episode may be considered a classic today, prior to filming the scene, Julia Louis-Dreyfus had some serious concerns about this particular plot point. And they had nothing to do with potentially pissing off Lorne Michaels, whose real-life leg kicking antics inspired the storyline.
In the episode’s DVD commentary track, which was recently shared on the Seinfeld YouTube , Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and writer Spike Feresten discussed the dance, with Alexander asking his co-star, “How much did you hate doing this? Because I a quote from you…”
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He later clarified that the quote in question involved a concern about how the scene might alter the public’s perception of Louis-Dreyfus’ sex life. “I recall you saying, the reason you were mortified about doing this, if I may be so bold, is that, ‘People who can’t dance can’t fuck,’” Alexander shared. “And you were concerned that America would think you’re a lousy lay.”
“But I’m really not, I swear,” the Veep star protested.
In real life, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is such a good dancer that she couldn’t help but move her body to the beat while the song was playing. “We didn’t play the music (on set),” she explained. “We tried it to the music and we couldn’t do it — I couldn’t do it to the music. So we had to drop the music out.”
Feresten noted that the Elaine dance has subsequently taken on a life of its own. “You can go on YouTube any time of the day and see people doing that dance,” he pointed out. “You really have influenced culture with it — at weddings and birthday parties across America.”
He’s right, some people really have celebrated their newfound matrimony by imitating the fictional acting president of the J. Peterman Company.
Unfortunately, the dance’s ubiquity has also ruined Louis-Dreyfus’ social life. “If I go to a party now and there’s dancing, there is always going to be a group of people who are watching me,” she revealed. “And I have to pretend that I’m not noticing they’re watching me.”
Presumably Lorne Michaels also has this problem now.
